


baby's first black bloc

by sarah_x



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 02:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11453820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarah_x/pseuds/sarah_x
Summary: duke's been on the job a month now and he's already screwed up once. he can't afford to screw up again.





	baby's first black bloc

Duke woke with a wince. Sharp pain shot through his left side, near his abdomen. _Oh, right,_ he thought, _Poison Ivy._ Last night had not been his finest hour. He’d been in the job for almost a month now and made a rookie mistake while trying to stop Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy robbing the diamond exchange.

He would have preferred another mission like the one in his first week, where he had been stuck in a vent while Riddler and Scarecrow made out for like… an hour. The intel had been good, so at least Bruce hadn’t chewed him out for that.

Duke remembered Bruce looking displeased when he’d limped back to the Manor last night.

_“We’ll talk about it in the morning.”_

Duke grimaced at the thought of facing Bruce but knew he had to eventually. He swung his legs up and out of bed and sat on the edge of it for a moment. He poked at the bandage on his side. It wasn’t too bad an injury, just sore. Alfred had dressed it for him as a precaution. Duke peaked beneath the bandage. From his ribcage to his pelvis, there was a blotch of nasty yellow and purple bruising. He winced and put the bandage back into place.

Yawning, Duke hobbled out of the room in his t-shirt and sleep shorts. He grabbed a piece of fruit and headed down the steps to the Batcave. The more time Bruce had to stew on things, the angrier he tended to get.

The cave was quiet when he got there, which was highly unusual considering how loud and annoying his foster siblings could be. _Damian must still be asleep._ The cave was illuminated by the light of the Batcomputer that stood tall as a wall in the centre of the cave near the control panel. Bruce had his back to Duke but there was no way he didn’t hear him enter. He even got changes into his costume with comment

Yep. Bruce was pissed.

“Uh, morning?” Duke said cautiously. No answer. “Listen, Bruce, I know I screwed up. I know it was stupid and reckless and-”

“Rioting in the Narrows.”

Duke almost didn’t catch Bruce’s mumbled reply. “Uh… what did you just say?”

Bruce turned his head so Duke could see his side-profile. Bruce still had the cowl on. Not a good sign. “There’s reports of protestors taking to the streets in the Narrows. They’re using a tactic known as black bloc: dark clothes, balaclavas. Makes it harder for individuals to be identified. They’re protesting the Gotham Summit and the invasion of Kahndaq.”

Duke walked over to the control panel, staring up at the footage Bruce brought up on the batcomputer. Protestors throwing Molotov cocktails at cops, setting fire to police cars, smashing in store windows. The usual in Gotham. Bruce brought up an image of a protestor in a black hoodie with the ‘A’ symbol of anarchism spray painted on his chest.  His face was covered by a white mask. A red flare cartwheeled through the air, thrown by the boy in the picture.

“This is Anarky,” Bruce explained. “He’s been a person of interest for the GCPD for quite some time. Yet to be formally identified. We believe he’s been involved in the organisation of multiple black blocs on behalf of anarchist and radical left-wing groups. He’s been getting bolder with each protest. Aggravated assault, arson, destruction of property. Barbara now believes he’s using the online persona ‘Moneyspider’ to target and expose corporations and world leaders. Not to mention stealing from them.”

“So… you want me to try and get this guy?” Duke asked.

“No,” Bruce said firmly, swivelling in his chair so he faced Duke. Annoyance was evident on his face. “Gordon is trying to contain the protest but his riot police are getting snowed under. You’re going to assist in apprehension of protestors _if_ necessary. Otherwise, you’ll help divert traffic.”

“Divert traffic?” Duke said, incredulous. Now it was Duke’s turn to get annoyed. “Bruce, I _need_ to be out in the field. I need to fight _real crime_ , not a bunch of people rightly pissed off about corrupt politicians-”

“What you ‘need’ is to rest,” Bruce cut in sternly, picking up his utility belt from the control panel and adjusting it around his waist. “Don’t over exert yourself today. After letting Isley and Quinn escape last night, you need to get your energy back. I’m going to find the girls.”

The disappointment was clear in Bruce’s voice. Duke felt like a kicked puppy. He remembered Grayson’s words: _whatever you do, don’t try and argue, it gets you nowhere._

Duke nodded but allowed a loud sigh to slip out. He didn’t meet Bruce’s eye. “Ok, I’ll take the bike. Let Gordon know I’m on my way.”

Duke turned to go when he felt Bruce’s hand land on his shoulder. He turned back to face Bruce, surprised. “I know it’s hard and I’m not trying to be cruel. But mistakes like last night get you killed. I’m sure you’ve spoken to Jason…”

Bruce trailed off. Duke gave him a sympathetic half-smile. Nope, he wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole.

Duke jogged over to his costume case and retrieved his helmet. On the way there, he glanced at Jason’s Robin costume hanging in tatters a few cases away.

_Mistakes like last night get you killed._

Was he really cut out for this?

***

Duke felt refreshed as he sped through the streets of Gotham on his black and canary yellow motorcycle. He thought it was a little dumb that Bruce had felt the need to colour co-ordinate his bike with his uniform but he had to admit it looked pretty cool.

Arriving on the scene, he found the streets converted into a war zone. Police with riot shields faced off the hooded men and women with baseball bats. Duke had to admit that, while Gordon seemed like an OK guy, he didn’t have much sympathy for his cops, who had frequently shot at him both in and outside of uniform.

The sea of black waving American flags was chanting and jeering, “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” A cop car behind them was a smoking wreck.

As Duke got closer, he could see the figure from the photo Bruce had shown him stood at the front of the crowd. He was holding a megaphone in one hand, a baseball bat in the other. “What do we want?”

The crowd’s response was deafening, “Freedom!”

“When do we want it?”

“Now!”

Anarky scanned the blockade of police and laughed. It was a light and soft sound, boyish, not your typical supervillain laugh. His eyes landed on Duke. Anarky winked at him.

“Kid!” A familiar voice interrupted Duke’s embarrassed flush. Gordon was waving him over. Duke parked the bike and jogged to meet him. “Get the hell behind the line!”

“Why?” Duke asked. “What’s happening-?”

Some of the riot police threw something into the road. They were canisters that reminded Duke of Scarecrow’s fear toxin, complete plume of yellow smoke that engulfed the protestors.

Tear gas.

Duke saw the protestors flee, a few of them left doubled over and retching. Anarky dropped his microphone and baseball bat, clawing at his hoodie in an attempt to breathe.

The police took their chance. They surged towards the protestors. It was a wild attempt to make a few arrests. A chance for the GCPD to appear relevant again.

“Gordon!” Duke shouted over the sounds of fireworks and glass breaking. “Someone’s going to get killed!”

“We know what we’re doing, kid!” Gordon said, though his expression was unsure. Gordon’s attention shifted away from Duke, suddenly, to someone behind him. “Hey, you, stay right there!”

Duke turned to see Anarky disappearing down an alley. Duke almost felt bad for chasing him but arresting Anarky would be a sure-fire way to prove himself to Bruce.

He ignored the screaming pain in his side and Terminator-ran in pursuit of Anarky. “Stop!” Duke called after him, “Dude, just stop! You need help!”

Anarky ignored him, downing trashcans to trip Duke up. Towards the end of the alley was a fire escape and Anarky propelled himself off an upturned box and onto the lower rung of the ladder. Duke grabbed his leg but Anarky kicked Duke off of him. By the time Duke managed to get a good hold on the ladder, Anarky was already half way up the fire escape.

“This fucking sucks!” Duke yelled, more to himself than to Anarky, but wouldn’t allow himself to be beat just yet.

Duke pulled himself up over the edge of the roof, whole body aching, only to see Anarky taking a run up to the ledge on the other side. “Oh no you don’t.” Duke’s hands reached for his utility belt and pulled out a batarang. He tossed it at the hooded boy. It caught Anarky’s sleeve and the taser activated.

Anarky screamed and his body convulsed. Duke tackled him to the ground before he could fall over the edge. Duke pinned Anarky to the ground by his wrists. Anarky groaned beneath him but he was still conscious. Duke was impressed, he’d seen guys twice the size of Anarky pee their pants from Bruce’s electroshock batarangs. Bloodshot blue eyes met his beneath the white mask.

All Anarky did was laugh again, same as he had before the police had attacked. “What’s wrong?” He said, his voice quiet and mocking. “Baby’s first black bloc?”

Duke was breathless. Not just from the chase, but from the closeness to Anarky.

“Nothing to say?” Anarky said. “You want a kiss or something?” He lifted his mask up just a little, revealing bruised skin around pink lips. A grin formed on his face.

“Y-You’re coming with me.”

Anarky ignored Duke’s words and moved closer, until their faces were only inches apart. “It’s free, I promise.”

Before Duke could answer, Anarky was kissing him. Duke could taste the blood and acrid gas on his lips. It took a few seconds for the kiss to register before Duke jerked away. His grip on Anarky had already loosened. Hands now free, Anarky thrust himself up off the roof, knocking Duke off of him. He pulled the mask back down and kicked Duke before he could recover, this time in the abdomen.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Anarky’s voice was calm, if pained.  “So, don’t fight me.”

Any other villain might have taken the opportunity to run. Anarky crouched down and looped his arm through Duke’s, helping him to his feet. “You can’t see it but I’m trying to help you.”

“Funny way of showing it.” Duke wanted to resist him but he also didn’t want to be kicked in the spleen again. Anarky brought Duke to the edge of the roof and lowered him down so he could rest against the concrete.

“If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.”

“Oh, screw you, dude,” Duke said. “I know how shitty the world is, just as much as the next person. You don’t see me destroying shit and attacking people.”

Anarky laughed again, “Is that so? Because in case you didn’t notice, asshole, you just attacked me.”

“I was provoked-AHHH!” Duke let out a whine of pain as his injury flared up again. “See what I mean.”

Anarky shook his head, muttering to himself. “You’re all asleep. All of you,” Anarky’s head jerked to the horizon with the sound of sirens. He glanced back to Duke. “Guess I’ll have to love you and leave you.”

“Wait!” Duke’s hand reached for the side of the roof as he tried to pull himself up. Anarky pushed him back down. Duke caught Anarky’s wrist before he could run off again. “Why… why’d you kiss me?”

“Because you wouldn’t get off of me otherwise,” Anarky shrugged. “I’m sure you’re a good-looking guy under that bumblebee suit. Even if you are a terrible superhero.”

Duke scowled as Anarky took another run up to the edge of the roof. “Fuck you!” Duke called as Anarky jumped. It was only after he’d watched Anarky leap the next few rooftops he remembered he had a utility belt full of gadgets. Another rookie error. Just what he needed.

Bruce was going to be so, so pissed.

**Author's Note:**

> might be more idk


End file.
